James Wood, comp. Dictionary of Quotations. 1899.
Virtue itself offends to Waste not time
Virtue itself offends when coupled with forbidding manners.Bp. Middleton.
Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied, / And vice sometime ’s by action dignified.Romeo and Juliet, ii. 3.
Virtue, like a plant, will not grow unless its root be hidden, buried from the eye of the sun. Let the sun shine on it, nay, do but look at it privily thyself, the root withers, and no flower will glad thee.Carlyle.
Virtue, like a strong and hardy plant, will root when it can find an ingenuous nature and a mind not averse to labour.Plutarch.
Virtue, like health, is the harmony of the whole man.Carlyle.
Virtue may be stern, but never cruel, never inhuman.Schiller.
Virtue, not misery, is the appointed road to heaven.W. R. Greg.
Virtue often trips and falls on the sharp-edged rocks of poverty.Eugene Sue.
Virtue pardons the wicked, as the sandal-tree perfumes the axe which strikes it.Saadi.
Virtue repulsed, yet knows not to repine, / But shall with unattainted honour shine.Swift.
Virtue should be considered as a part of taste, and we should as much avoid deceit or sinister meanings in discourse as we would puns, bad language, or false grammar. (?)
Virtue shows quite as well in rags and patches as she does in purple and fine linen.Dickens.
Virtue that goes unrewarded is doubly beautiful.Seume.
Virtue that wavers is not virtue.Milton.
Virtue, though clothed in a beggar’s garb commands respect.Schiller.
Virtue, though in rags, will keep one warm.Dryden, after Horace.
Virtue, which breaks through all opposition / And all temptations can remove, / Most shines and most is acceptable above.Milton.
Virtue which is according to the precepts of reason, appears equally great in avoiding as in overcoming dangers.Spinoza.
Virtuous and vicious every man must be; / Few in the extreme, but all in a degree.Pope.
Virtus ariete fortior—Virtue is stronger than a battering-ram.Motto.
Virtus est medium vitiorum, et utrinque reductum—Virtue is the mean between two vices, and equally removed from either.Horace.
Virtus est militis decus—Valour is the soldier’s honour.Livy.
Virtus est vitium fugere, et sapientia prima / Stultitia caruisse—It is virtue to shun vice, and the first step of wisdom is to be free from folly.Horace.
Virtus hominem jungit Deo—Virtue unites man with God.Cicero.
Virtus in actione consistit—Virtue consists in action.Motto.
Virtus in arduis—Valour in difficulties.
Virtus laudatur et alget—Virtue is praised and is left to freeze in the cold.Juvenal.
Virtus mille scuta—Virtue is as good as a thousand shields.Motto.
Virtus post nummos—After money virtue.Horace.
Virtus probata florebit—Approved virtue will flourish.Motto.
Virtus, recludens immeritis mori / Cælum, negata tentat iter via; / Cœtusque vulgares, et udam / Spernit humum fugiente penna—Virtue, opening heaven to those who deserve not to die, explores her way by a path to others denied, and spurns with soaring wing the vulgar crowds and the foggy earth.Horace.
Virtus repulsæ nescia sordidæ / Intaminatis fulget honoribus; / Nec sumit aut ponit secures / Arbitrio popularis auræ—Virtue, which knows no base repulse, shines with unsullied honours, neither receives nor resigns the fasces (i.e., badges of office) at the will of popular caprice.Horace.
Virtus requiei nescia sordidæ—Virtue which knows no mean repose.Motto.
Virtus semper viridis—Virtue is always flourishing (lit. green).Motto.
Virtus sola nobilitat—Virtue alone confers nobility.Motto.
Virtus vincit invidiam—Virtue subdues envy.Motto.
Virtute et opera—By virtue and industry.Motto.
Virtute, non astutia—By virtue, not by cunning.Motto.
Virtute, non verbis—By virtue, not by words.Motto.
Virtute quies—In virtue there is tranquillity.Motto.
Virtutem doctrina paret, naturane donet?—Does training produce virtue, or does nature bestow it?Horace.
Virtutem incolumem odimus, / Sublatam ex oculis quærimus invidi—We in our envy hate virtue when present, but seek after her when she is removed out of our sight.Horace.
Virtuti nihil obstat et armis—Nothing can withstand valour and arms.Motto.
Virtuti non armis fido—I trust to virtue, not to arms.Motto.
Virtutibus obstat / Res angusta domi—Straitened domestic means obstruct the path to virtue.Juvenal.
Virtutis avorum præmium—The reward of the valour of my forefathers.Motto.
Virtutis expers verbis jactans gloriam / Ignotos fallit, notis est derisui—A fellow who brags of his prowess and is devoid of courage, imposes on strangers but is the jest of those who know him.Phædrus.
Virtutis fortuna comes—Fortune is the companion of valour.Motto.
Vis comica—Comic power, or a talent for comedy.
Vis consili expers mole ruit sua / Vim temperatam Di quoque provehunt / In majus; idem odere vires / Omne nefas animo moventes—Force, without judgment, falls by its own weight; moreover, the gods promote well-regulated force to further advantage; but they detest force that meditates every crime.Horace.
Vis inertiæ—The inert property or resisting power of matter.
Vis unita fortior—Power is strengthened by union.Motto.
Vis viva—The power residing in a body in virtue of its motion.
Visage fardé—A painted, or dissembling, countenance.French.
Visible ploughmen and hammermen there have been, ever from Cain and Tubal Cain downwards; but where does your accumulated agricultural, metallurgic, and other manufacturing skill lie warehoused?Carlyle.
Vita brevis, ars longa—Life is short, art is long.
Vita dum superest, bene est—If only life remain, I am content.Mæcenas.
Vita hominis sine literis mors est—Life without letters is death.Motto.
Vita est hominum quasi quum ludas tesseris—The life of man is like a game with dice.Terence.
Vita sine proposito vaga est—A life without a purpose is a rambling one.Seneca.
Vitæ est avidus, quisquis non vult / Mundo secum pereunte mori—He is greedy of life who is unwilling to die when the world around him is perishing.Seneca.
Vitæ philosophia dux, virtutis indagatrix—O philosophy, thou guide of life and discoverer of virtue.Cicero.
Vitæ post-scenia celant—They conceal the secret actions of their lives (lit. what goes on behind the scenes).Lucretius.
Vitæ summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam—The short span of life forbids us to spin out hope to any length.Horace.
Vitæ via virtus—Virtue is the way of life.Motto.
Vital truth is in its very nature self-evident; carries its witness within itself, and needs only to be understood to be at once accepted as true.James Wood.
Vitam impendere vero—To devote one’s life to the truth.Juvenal.
Vitam regit fortuna, non sapientia—Fortune rules this life, and not wisdom.Cicero.
Vitanda est improba Siren / Desidia—You must avoid sloth, that wicked Syren.Horace.
Vitavi denique culpam, / Non laudem merui—I have, in brief, avoided what is censurable, not merited what is commendable.Horace.
Vitia nobis sub virtutum nomine obrepunt—Vices steal upon us under the name of virtues.Seneca.
Vitia otii negotio discutienda sunt—The vice of doing nothing is only to be shaken off by doing something.Seneca.
Vitiis nemo sine nascitur; optimus ille / Qui minimis urgetur—No man is born without faults; he is the best who is oppressed with fewest.Horace.
Vitiosum est ubique, quod nimium est—Too much of anything is in every case a defect.Seneca.
Vitium commune omnium est, / Quod nimium ad rem in senecta attenti sumus—It is a fault common to us all, that in old age we become too much attached to worldly interests.Terence.
Viva voce—By the living voice.
Vivat Rex or Regina—Long live the king or queen.
Vive la bagatelle!—Success to trifling!French.
Vive la nation!—Long live the nation!French.
Vive ut vivas—Live that you may live.Motto.
Vive, valeque—Long life to you and farewell.Motto.
Vivent les gueux!—Long live the beggars!French.
Vivere est cogitare—Living is thinking.Cicero.
Vivere militare est—To live is to fight.Seneca.
Vivere sat vincere—To conquer is to live enough.Motto.
Vivere si recte nescis, decede peritis—If you know not how to live aright, quit the company of those who do.Horace.
Vivida vis animi—The strong force of genius.Lucretius.
Vivimus aliena fiducia—We live by trusting one another.Pliny the elder.
Vivit post funera virtus—Virtue survives the grave.Motto.
Vivite fortes, / Fortiaque adversis opponite pectora rebus—Live as brave men, and breast adversity with stout hearts.Horace.
Vivitur exiguo melius: natura beatis / Omnibus esse dedit, si quis cognoverit uti—Men live best upon a little: nature has ordained all to be happy, if they would but learn how to use her gifts.Claudian.
Vivitur parvo bene, cui paternum / Splendet in mensa tenui salinum; / Nec leves somnos timor aut cupido / Sordidus aufert—He lives well on little on whose frugal board the paternal salt-cellar shines, and whose soft slumbers are not disturbed by fear or the sordid passion for gain.Horace.
Vivo et regno, simul ista reliqui, / Quæ vos ad cœlum fertis rumore secundo—I live and am a king, as soon as I have left those interests of the city, which you exalt to the skies in such laudation.Horace.
Vivre, c’est penser et sentir son âme—To live is to think, and feel one has a soul of his own.French.
Vivre n’est pas respirer; c’est agir—Living is not breathing; it is acting.Rousseau.
Vivunt in Venerem frondes, etiam nemus omne per altum / Felix arbor amat; nutant ad mutua palmæ / Fœdera, populeo suspirat populus ictu, / Et platani platanis, alnoque assibilat alnus—The leaves live to love, and over the whole lofty grove each happy tree loves; palm nods to palm in mutual pledge of love; the poplar sighs for the poplar’s embrace; plane whispers to plane, and alder to alder.Claudian, in anticipation of the sexual system of Linnæus.
Vix a te videor posse tenere manus—I feel hardly able to keep my hands off you.Ovid.
Vix decimus quisque est, qui ipse sese noverit—Hardly one man in ten knows himself.Plautus.
Vix ea nostra voco—I scarcely call these things our own.Motto.
Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona / Multi; sed omnes illacrymabiles / Urgentur, ignotique longa / Nocte, carent quia vate sacro—Many brave men lived before Agamemnon; but all of them, unwept and unknown, are o’erwhelmed in endless night, because no sacred bard was there to sing their praises.Horace.
Vixi dubius, anxius morior, nescio quo vado—I have lived in doubt, I die in anxiety, and I know not whither I go.Ascribed to a Pope of Rome.
Voce d’uno, voce di niuno—Voice of one, voice of none.Italian Proverb.
Vogue la galère!—Come what may!French.
Voilà le soleil d’Austerlitz—That is the sun of Austerlitz.Napoleon.
Voilà une autre chose—That’s quite another matter.French.
Voilà une femme qui a des lunes—There is a woman who is full of whims (lit. has moons).French Proverb.
Volenti non fit injuria—An injury cannot be done to a consenting party, i.e., if he consents or connives, he cannot complain.Law.
Volez de vos propres ailes—Do for yourself (lit. fly with your own wings).French Proverb.
Voll, toll—Full, foolish.German Proverb.
Voll Weisheit sind des Schicksals Fügungen—Full of wisdom are the ordinations of Fate.Schiller.
Vollkommenheit ist die Norm des Himmels; / Vollkommenes Wollen, die Norm des Menschen—Perfection is the rule of heaven; to will the perfect, that of man.Goethe.
Volo non valeo—I am willing but unable.Motto.
Volte face—A change of front.French.
Voluntas non potest cogi—The will cannot be forced.
Voluptates commendat rarior usus—Pleasures are enhanced that are sparingly enjoyed.Juvenal.
Vom Rechte, das mit uns geboren ist, / Von dem ist, leider! nie die Frage—Of the right that is born with us, of that unhappily there is never a question.Goethe, Mephistopheles in “Faust.”
Vom Sein zum Sein geht alles Leben über— / Zum Nichtsein ist kein Schritt in der Natur—All life passes over from being to being. There is no step in Nature into non-being.Tiedge.
Vom sichern Port lässt sich’s gemächlich rathen—It is easy to give advice from a port of safety.Schiller.
Vom Vater hab’ ich die Statur, / Des Lebens ernstes Führen; / Von Mütterchen die Frohnatur, / Und Lust zu fabulieren—From my father inherit I stature and the earnest conduct of life; from motherkin my cheerful disposition and pleasure in fanciful invention.Goethe, of himself.
Von der Gewalt, die alle Wesen bindet, / Befreit der Mensch sich, der sich überwindet—From the power which constrains every creature man frees himself by overcoming himself.Goethe.
Von der Menschheit—du kannst von ihr nie gross genug denken; / Wie du im Busen sie trägst, prägst du in Thaten sie aus—Of humanity thou canst never think greatly enough; as thou bearest it in thy bosom, thou imprintest it in thy deeds.Schiller.
Vor dem Glauben / Gilt keine Stimme der Natur—In matters of faith the voice of nature has no standing (before the Inquisition).Schiller.
Vor dem Tode erschrickst du? Du wünchest unsterblich zu leben! / Leb’ im Ganzen! Wenn du lange dahin bist, es bleibt—Art thou afraid of death? Thou wishest for immortality? Live in the whole! When thou art long gone, it remains.Schiller.
Vor Leiden kann nur Gott dich wahren, / Unmuth magst du dir selber sparen—From suffering God alone can guard thee; from ill-humour thou canst guard thyself.Geibel.
Vorwärts—Forward.Motto of Blücher.
Vorwärts musst du / Denn rückwärts kannst du nun nicht mehr—Forwards must thou, for backwards canst thou now no more.Schiller.
Vos finesses sont cousues de fil blanc—Your arts are easily seen through (lit. sewed with white thread).French Proverb.
Vota vita mea—My life is devoted.Motto.
Vote it as you please; there is a company of poor men that will spend all their blood before they see it settled so.Cromwell.
Votes should be weighed, not counted.Schiller.
Vouloir c’est pouvoir—Where there’s a will, there’s a way (lit. to will is to be able).French Proverb.
Vous bridez le cheval par la queue—You begin at the wrong end (lit. bridle the horse by the tail).French Proverb.
Vous êtes orfèvre, Monsieur Josse!—You are a goldsmith, Monsieur Josse! i.e., an interested party.Molière.
Vous ne jouez donc pas le whist, Monsieur? Hélas! quelle triste vieillesse vous vous préparez!—Not play at whist, sir? Alas! what a dreary old age you are preparing for yourself.Talleyrand.
Vous prenez tout ce qu’il dit au pied de la lettre—You take everything he says literally.French Proverb.
Vous voulez prendre la lune avec les dents—You attempt impossibilities (lit. wish to take the moon with your teeth).French Proverb.
Vows made in storms are forgotten in calms.Proverb.
Vox audita perit, litera scripta manet—The word that is heard perishes, the letter that is written remains.
Vox clamantis in deserto—The voice of one crying in the wilderness.Vulgate.
Vox et præterea nihil—A voice and nothing more.
Vox faucibus hæsit—His voice stuck fast in his throat.
Vox is the God of this universe.Carlyle.
Vox populi, vox Dei—The voice of the people is the voice of God.
Vox tantum atque ossa supersunt. / Vox manet—The voice and bones are all that’s left; the voice remains.Ovid.
Voyez comme il brûle le pavé—See how fast he drives (lit. burns the pavement).French Proverb.
Vulvar opulence fills the street from wall to wall of the houses, and begrudges all but the gutter to everybody whose sleeve is a little worn at the elbows.John Weiss.
Vulgarity consists in a deadness of the heart and body, resulting from prolonged, and especially from inherited conditions of “degeneracy,” or literally “unracing;” gentlemanliness being another name for intense humanity. And vulgarity shows itself in dulness of heart, not in rage or cruelty, but in inability to feel or conceive noble character or emotion. Dulness of bodily sense and general stupidity are its material manifestation.Ruskin.
Vulgarity in manners defiles fine garments more than mud.Plautus.
Vulgus ex veritate pauca, ex opinione multa, æstimat—The masses judge of few things by the truth, of most things by opinion.Cicero.
Vultus est index animi—The countenance is the index of the mind.Proverb.
Wait upon him whom thou art to speak to with thine eye; for there be many cunning men that have secret heads and transparent countenances.Burton.
Wachsamkeit ist die Tugend des Lasters—Vigilance is the virtue of vice.C. J. Weber.
Waft yourselves, yearning souls, upon the stars; / Sow yourselves on the wandering winds of space; / Watch patient all your days, if your eyes take / Some dim, cold ray of knowledge. The dull world / Hath need of you—the purblind, slothful world!Lewis Morris.
Wage du zu irren und zu träumen: / Hoher Sinn liegt oft im kind’schen Spiel—Dare to err and to dream; a deep meaning often lies in the play of a child.Schiller.
Wages are no index of well-being to the working man; without proper wages there can be no well-being; but with them also there may be none.Carlyle.
Wahres und Gutes wird sich versöhnen, / Wenn sich beide vermählen im Schönen—True and good will be reconciled when both are wedded in the beautiful.Rückert.
Wahrheit gegen Freund and Feind—Truth in spite of friend and foe alike.Schiller.
Wahrheit immer wird, nie ist—Truth always is a-being, never is.Schiller.
Wahrheit wird wohl gedrückt, aber nicht erstickt—Truth may be smothered, but not extinguished.German Proverb.
Wait upon him whom thou art to speak to with thine eye; for there be many cunning men that have secret heads and transparent countenances.Burton.
Waiting answers sometimes as well as working.Mrs. Gatty.
Walk not with the world where it is walking wrong.Carlyle.
Walk this world with no friend in it but God and St. Edmund, and you will either fall into the ditch or learn a good many things.Carlyle.
Wann? wie? und wo? das ist die leidige Frage—When? how? and where? That is the vexing question.Goethe.
Want is the mother of industry.Proverb.
Want makes wit.Proverb.
Want maketh even servitude honourable.Hitopadesa.
Want o’ wit is waur than want o’ siller.Scotch Proverb.
Want of care does us more damage than want of knowledge.Ben. Franklin.
Want of courage upon some occasions assumes the appearance of ignorance, and betrays us when we most want to excel.Goldsmith.
Want of humility or self-denial is simply the want of all religion, of all moral worth.Carlyle.
Want of prudence is too frequently the want of virtue; nor is there on earth a more powerful advocate for vice than poverty.Goldsmith.
Want of tenderness is want of parts, and is no less a proof of stupidity than depravity.Johnson.
Want supplieth itself of what is next.Bacon.
Wanton jests make fools laugh and wise men frown.Fuller.
War disorganises, but it is to re-organise.Emerson.
War has its sweets, Hymen its alarms.La Fontaine.
War has no pity.Schiller.
War is a game which, were their subjects wise, kings should not play at.Cowper.
War is a terrible trade; but in the cause that is righteous, / Sweet is the smell of powder.Longfellow.
War its thousands slays, peace its ten thousands.Beilby Porteous.
War ought to be the only study of a prince.Machiavelli.
War suspends the rules of moral obligation, and what is long suspended is in danger of being totally abrogated.Burke.
War—the trade of barbarians, and the art of bringing the greatest physical force to bear on a single point.Napoleon.
War, with all its evils, is better than a peace in which there is nothing to be seen but usurpation and injustice.Pitt.
Wäre der Geist nicht frei, dann wär’ es ein grosser Gedanke, / Dass ein Gedankenmonarch über die Seele regiert—Only if the spirit of man were not free, would the thought be a great one that there is a monarch of thought who rules over our souls.Platen.
Warm fortunes are always sure of getting good husbands.Goldsmith.
Warm your body by healthful exercise, not by cowering over a stove.Thoreau.
Warm your spirit by performing independently noble deeds, not by ignobly seeking the sympathy of your fellows, who are no better than yourself.Thoreau.
Warn them that are unruly, support the weak, be patient toward all men.St. Paul.
Wars should be undertaken in order that we may live in peace without suffering wrong.Cicero.
Was, and is, and will be, are but “is.”Tennyson.
Was der Löwe nicht kann, das kann der Fuchs—What the lion cannot manage to do, the fox can.German Proverb.
Was der Socialismus will, ist nicht Eigenthum aufheben, sondern im Gegentheile individuelles Eigenthum, auf die Arbeit gegründetes Eigenthum erst einführen—What Socialism means is not to abolish property, but, on the contrary, to establish individual property, property founded on labour.Lassalle.
Was die Fürsten geigen, müssen die Unterthanen tanzen—Subjects must dance as princes fiddle to them.German Proverb.
Was die heulende Tiefe da unten verhehle, / Das erzählt keine lebende glückliche Seele—What the howling deep down there conceals, no blessed living soul can tell.Schiller.
Was die innere Stimme spricht / Das läuschet die hoffende Seele nicht—By what the inner voice speaks the trusting soul is never deceived.Schiller.
Was die Natur versteckt, zieht Unsinn an das Licht—What Nature hides from our gaze, want of sense and feeling drags to the light.Lessing.
Was die Sage erzählt / Mit Geschichte vermählt, / Mit Phantasie im Verein, / Das lass dir willkommen sein—Let what legend relates, wedded to history and in union with fantasy, be welcome to thee. (?)
Was du besitzest, kann ein Raub des Schicksals sein; / Was du besassest, bleibt für alle Zeiten dein—What you possess is at the mercy of fortune; what you possessed remains your own for ever.Lorm.
Was du denkest, sei wahr; und wie du denkest, so rede! / Wolle das Gute, so folgt Segen und Freude der That—Be what thou thinkest true; and as thou thinkest, so speak. Will what is good; then will follow blessing and joy from the deed.C. L. Fernow.
Was du ererbt von deinen Vätern hast, / Erwirb es, um es zu besitzen. / Was man nicht nützt, ist eine schwere Last; / Nur was der Augenblick erschafft, das kann er nützen—What thou hast inherited from thy sires, acquire so as to possess it as thy own. What we use not is a heavy burden; only what the moment produces can the moment profit by.Goethe.
Was einmal sein muss, wird nie zu früh gethan—What must be can never be too quickly done.Rückert.
Was ever woman in this humour woo’d? / Was ever woman in this humour won?Richard III., i. 2.
Was geboren ist auf Erden / Muss zu Erd und Asche werden—What is born on earth must to earth and ashes return.J. G. Jacobi.
Was gelten soll, muss wirken and muss dienen—To be of any worth a thing must be productive and serviceable.Goethe.
Was glänzt ist für den Augenblick geboren; / Das Echte bleibt der Nachwelt unverloren—What dazzles is produced for the moment; what is genuine remains unlost to posterity.Goethe.
Was Gott thut, das ist wohlgethan—What God does is well done.S. Rodigast.
Was hab’ ich mehr als meine Pflicht gethan? / Ein guter Mann wird stets das Bessre wählen—What have I done more than my duty? A good man will always select what is better.Schiller.
Was Hände bauten, können Hände stürzen—What hands have built, hands can pull down.Schiller.
Was Hänschen nicht lernt, lernt Hans nimmermehr—What little Jack does not learn, big John never will.German Proverb.
Was hilft es mir, dass ich geniesse? Wie Träume fliehn die wärmsten Küsse, / Und alle Freude wie ein Kuss—What help is there for me in enjoyment? As dreams vanish the warmest kisses, and as such is all joy.Goethe.
Was hilft laufen, wenn man nicht auf dem rechten Weg ist?—What boots running if one is on the wrong road?German Proverb.
Was hilft’s, wenn ihr ein Ganzes dargebracht? / Das Publikum wird es euch doch zerpflücken—What boots it to present a whole? The public will be sure to pull it to pieces for you.Goethe.
Was ich besitze, mag ich gern bewahren; der Wechsel unterhält, doch nützt er kaum—What I possess I would like to keep; change is entertaining, but is scarcely advantageous.Goethe.
Was ich besitze, seh’ ich wie im weiten, / Und was verschwand, wird mir zu Wirklichkeiten—What I possess I see in the distance; and what has vanished becomes for me actuality.Goethe.
Was ich nicht loben kann, davon sprech ich nicht—I do not speak of what I cannot praise.Goethe.
Was im Leben uns verdriesst / Man im Bilde gern geniesst—What annoys us in life we enjoy in a picture.Goethe.
Was in dem Herzen Anderer von uns lebt, / Ist unser wahrestes und tiefstes Selbst—What of us lives in the heart of others is our truest and deepest self.Herder.
Was ist deine Pflicht? Die Forderung des Tages—What is thy duty? To accept the challenge of the passing day.
Was ist der Tod? Nach einem Fieber / Ein sanfter Schlaf, der uns erquickt! / Der Thor erschreckt darüber, / Der Weise ist entzückt—What is death? A gentle sleep, which refreshes us after a fever. The fool is frightened at it; the wise man overjoyed.Winter.
Was ist ein Held ohne Menschenliebe?—What is a hero without love for man?Lessing.
Was ist noch schlimmer als das Uebel? Wenn man es nicht zu ertragen weiss—“What is still worse than evil?” Inability to bear it.C. J. Weber.
Was ist unser höchstes Gesetz? Unser eigener Vortheil—What is our highest good? Our own advantage.Goethe.
Was lehr’ ich dich vor allen Dingen? / Könntest mich lehren von meiner Schatte zu springen!—What before all shall I teach you? That you could teach me to jump off my shadow!Goethe.
Was man einmal ist, das muss man ganz sein—What we are at any moment we should be entirely.Bodenstedt.
Was man Gott opfern will, mass man nicht vom Teufel einsegnen lassen—We must not let the devil consecrate what we mean for God.German Proverb.
Was man in der Jugend wünscht, hat man im Alter die Fülle—What one wishes in youth one has to the full when old.Goethe, by way of motto to the second part of his “Wahrheit und Dichtung.”
Was man nicht versteht, besitzt man nicht—What we don’t understand we do not possess.Goethe.
Was man sein will, sei man ganz—What one will be, let him entirely be.W. F. Flotow.
Was man zu heftig fühlt, fühlt man nicht allzulang—Very acute suffering does not last long.Goethe.
Was Menschen säen, werden die Götter ernten; / Gott spricht durch seine Welt, der Mensch durch seine That—What men sow the gods will reap. God speaks through his world, man through his deed.Tiedge.
Was mir ein Augenblick genommen, / Das bringt kein Frühling mir zurück—What a moment has taken from me no spring brings back to me.Hoffmann.
Was never evening yet / But seemed far beautifuller than its day.Browning.
Was nicht von innen keimt hervor, / Ist in der Wurzel schwach—What does not germinate forth from within is weak at its root.Uhland.
Was nicht zusammen kann bestehen, thut am besten sich zu lösen—What cannot exist together had better separate.Schiller.
Was niemals unser war, entbehrt man leicht—We easily dispense with what we never had.Platen.
Was nützt, ist nor ein Theil des Bedeutenden—What is useful forms but a part of the important.Goethe.
Was soll der fürchten, der den Tod nicht fürchtet?—What shall he fear who does not fear death?Schiller.
Was there ever, since the beginning of the world, a universal vote given in favour of the worthiest man or thing?Carlyle.
Was there, is there, or will there be a great intellect ever heard tell of without being first a true and great heart to begin with? Never…. Think it not, suspect it not. Worse blasphemy I could not readily utter.Carlyle to John Sterling.
Was thy life given to thee / For making pretty sentences, and play / Of dainty humour for the mirthful heart / To be more merry, or to serve thy kind, / Redressing wrong?Dr. Walter Smith.
Was uns alle bändigt, das Gemeine—What enthrals us all is the common.Goethe.
Was vergangen, kehrt nicht wieder; / Aber ging es leuchtend nieder, / Leuchtet’s lange noch zurück!—What has gone by returns not again, but if it went down shining, it reflects its light for long.Karl Förster.
Was vernünftig ist, das ist wirklich; und was wirklich ist, das ist vernünftig—What is rational is actual; and what is actual is rational.Hegel.
Was verschmerze nicht der Mensch?—What can man not put up with?Schiller.
Was wir als Schönheit hier empfunden, / Wird einst als Wahrheit uns entgegengehn—What we have felt here as beauty will one day confront us as truth.Schiller.
Waste not time by trampling upon thistles because they have yielded us no figs. Here are books, and we have brains to read them; here is a whole Earth and a whole Heaven, and we have eyes to look on them.Carlyle.